Win XP Pro Installation

[cmichael258]

Began Win XP Pro SP2 installation and ran into all sorts of problems. Sometimes the installation CD would not boot up, another time, I would get various error messages such as
"File\i386\ntkrnlmp.exe could not be loaded. The error code is 7." (this is a brand new legit.
Windows CD), or TRAP=========EXCEPTION, and so on. I went back into the bios and the CD burner, DVD and HD were all recognized and in the proper boot order.

I decided to switch the CPU multiplier back from 12x to 10x and the installation started right up (it's now at the formatting stage).

My question is this....since changing the multiplier was the only thing I did, if I switch back to 12x after the OS is installed, should I expect problems; should I leave well enough alone? I don't do any gaming and will mostly use the new computer for surfing, email and working on some word docs. and excel spreadsheets.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Asus M2n-E Motherboard
AMD 64 X2 4600 CPU
2 1024GB Patriot DDR2 6400 Memory
BFG GEForce 7600 GT OC 256 MB Graphics Card
Maxtor 250GB SATA 7200 HD
Antec TP 550 PSU
Antec P180 Case
Plextor W5224TA-IBP CD Burner
SONY NPF920 FDD
Samsung 712 LCD Monitor

[clroberts]

Cmichael258:

Just leave the clocking alone. With that setup you don't need to worry about overclocking. Gaming will do just fine. I am just running an XP 3000 and do just fine with Battlefield 2, and others. I will tell you this though: There are known issues with AMD X2 processors and DVD drives. Just search this site and you'll see others having issues.

[blue60007]

Hmm, well the multiplier should be 12. Normally if you would have increased it from stock you would increase the frequency of the CPU and that could cause instability and the issues you are having. Was the multi set to 10 by default...and does the BIOS report the CPU as a 4600+ ?

One potential problem I see is that your RAM isn't on the QVL list. These are modules that have been tested to work. AM2 is VERY picky about RAM, and we've had a lot of problems here on the forums with memory incompatibility. I'm not saying this the problem for sure, but I'm throwing an idea out there....

[cmichael258]

Yes, the multiplier was set at 10x by default and it is showing as 4600+ in bios. The install went very smoothly after I made the changes previously mentioned and I just have a few drivers to install.
You are correct that the Patriot memory is not on the AMD list. Before I purchased it, I checked with another forum member who had the same MB and he was using it with no problems.
Thanks to both of you for your input. I'll leave things the way they are since it's working so well.

[blue60007]

Something's not right. If the multiplier is set to 10 then you're only getting 2.0GHz. The 4600+ runs at 2.4GHz (setting the multi to 12 would get you there).

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by blue60007 Something's not right. If the multiplier is set to 10 then you're only getting 2.0GHz. The 4600+ runs at 2.4GHz (setting the multi to 12 would get you there).

It's a Socket AM2 system. Quirky memory controller strikes again?

Cricket